Duocel® Aluminum Foam

Why is Duocel® aluminum foam so special?

Duocel® aluminum foam is a true metal skeletal structure. It is not a sintered, coated, or plated product. Its purity is typically that of the parent alloy metal, with no voids, inclusions, or entrapments.

The matrix of cells and ligaments is completely repeatable, regular, and uniform throughout the entirety of the material. Duocel® is a rigid, highly porous and permeable structure and has a controlled density of metal per unit volume.

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Aluminum has great thermal conductivity for its cost and weight. Because of the high surface area of Duocel® foam, heat transfer to/from fluids flowing through the foam is greatly accelerated over solid aluminum and aluminum fins.

Duocel® aluminum foam is also ideal for use with phase change materials (PCM) because of the large amount of surface area, which increases coupling to PCM.

Please visit our thermal conductivity page in the technical data section for a more in depth explanation of how materials and properties effects the thermal conductivity of Duocel® foam.

When a load is applied to a foam structure, it will initially yield elastically. However, at approximately 4-6% of strain, depending on the sample size, the foam structure will begin to buckle and collapse continuously at a relatively constant stress. Depending upon the initial relative density of the foam, this constant collapse will proceed to approximately 50-70% of strain. At that point, the stress / strain curve will begin to rise as the compressed foam enters the “densification” phase.

The point in the stress / strain curve where it transitions from the elastic to plastic deformation phase defines the “crush strength” of the foam. This is an important mechanical parameter as it is obviously essential to remain below that level for any structure that is being designed to maintain its shape under design load

Please visit our energy absorption page in the technical data section for a more in depth explanation of how materials and properties effects the crush strength of Duocel® foam.

We manufacture our foam from solid aluminum, which already has a low density. The resulting foam is extremely lightweight and is commonly used in weight sensitive aerospace applications. We have the capacity to reduce the foam to a relative density of 3% to 12%. Higher densities can be achieved through post foaming compression.

Duocel® aluminum foam also has a high strength-to-weight ratio. It is a great material for lightweight structural applications.

For our Duocel® aluminum foam we are limited to continuous sizes that fit into either 5 x 7 x 18 or 4 x 14 x 16. For pieces any larger we are able to use multiple pieces and bond or braze them together.

Our products can range anywhere from $2.00 to $500.00+ per cubic inch of foam for a fully machined end item component. Our foams are generally only economically viable in projects where high performance is more critical than high cost.

ERG does not sell foam as a raw bulk material, only as finished end item components.

Short Definitions / Explanations

Relative Density – Relative density is the density of foam divided by the density of the solid parent material of the struts. In other words, it is the mass of real material in a block of foam compared to what it would be if it were a solid block of the same material. Typical relative densities for Duocel® foams run from about 2% to 15% depending on the material being foamed and the application. Due to the physics of small-scale structures, the majority of Duocel® foams are manufactured in the 3-10% density range. For actually foam density you would use (parentDensity x relativeDensity = foamDensity). To find Relative density use (foamDensity/parentDensity = relativeDensity).